Well I started collecting locos about a year ago. I have my layout complete (about 14 x 7) except for landscaping etc. Lots of track and lots of fun.
Reading around some posts I understand that to be a serious modeler, one must stick to just a few road names. What does this mean? Do you all place just a few of the locos on the layout and go to the cabinet and take out just the matching rolling stock (you can tell I don’t belong to a club or anything…in fact I don’t think there are any other modelers around town at all).
I have just loved collecting the locos. I have 83 now…but, horrors, all kinds of road names…perhaps 5 or 6 in more common ones like UP and PRR, New York Central, Chicago and North Western. But little beauties of the Cotton Belt Line and so on.
(See, doesn’t she have just the cutest little nose? How could I resist her, even though I have no Erie rolling stock!)
Obviously I am not modelling a particular region or road at the moment. I kind of delayed that until I decide what backdrops and scenery to add.
But my question is…doesn’t anyone else just collect every darn interesting paint job or road name just for the look of it…and run them around just to admire them?
I guess I am just an amateur…probably one who collects for display and runs them around for display. I have tried behaving myself lately and tried at least to have some consistency in collecting rolling stock. But I guess I could never let a serious modeller see me using my Chesapeake and Ohio or Western Maryland diesels to pull Sante Fe cars around. I am resigned to being called a toy train set collector, I guess. Ouch!
Remeber its your railroad/hobby, and you can do whatever you want. There are no standards for whatever you choose to do, as long as you are happy doing it. Have fun and enjoy whatever you choose!
Most trains of any railroad have a mix of cars from various railroads in their trains. Except for ore trains or other “unit” trains like car carriers, trains are usually mixed, with cars from all over the country.
Years ago I worked with a guy who collected N scale. No layout, just bought locomotives and passenger cars that appealed to him. A lot were NW because he grew up near the NW, but he bought a lot of other roads as well. As noted above, this is a hobby, do what you enjoy. My guess is that most of us buy at least a few locomotives just because they appeal to us. I have a WWF Forney that really has no place on a Maryland and Pennsylvania RR layout, but hey I like it.
You can run what you want. Your post on the other hand, seems to be ‘fishing’ for someone to agree with your assesment that you are not a serious modeler. Why do you need the label? Why not just be happy with being in the hobby?
The fun is the important thing. I wish MR would put that slogan back where it belongs. I don’t know why they got rid of it. It happened around the time of the Great ToC Obfuscation, which has fortunately become a relic of cursed memory. Don’t worry about being “serious”.
There’s nothing wrong with collecting. Most of us like to collect. Train collecting is somewhat more fun than other collecting hobbies, because you can run the trains. There’s nothing wrong with liking a lot of different roads, either. A lot of brass hats can’t settle on a favorite. A common solution has been to build a short but heavily trafficked “terminal” or “connecting” line owned by a group of roads, often to serve a common city station, or to handle interchange traffic.
The “Southern RR” featured in a recent MR issue had an eclectic mix of equipment, just like yours.
On the other hand, sometimes we stop at the interesting equipment and don’t realize how fascinating the railroad itself is. Get a few books out of the library, or browse the RPI site, and you’ll see what I mean. There’s a lot more to this hobby past the neat rolling stock.
Well, since you can’t possibly run 83 locos on a layout that size, I think it’s a great idea to keep most of them boxed up, and just bring out a select few every couple of weeks. If you’re modelling transition era or before, try to get at least a matching caboose (or passenger cars) to go with the engines. You might want to pick up a couple of “generic” cabeese with no road names to run with those engines where you don’t have one.
Try getting a map of the US and Canada, and mark of the regions where each railroad operated. Select a region, and populate your layout only with the engines and cabeese that were appropriate for that area. Also, think about the products that come from those areas, and use rolling stock that fits. For example, you wouldn’t see a lot of stock cars in New England, but you’d see a lot in the Midwest. Run coal hoppers with your Pennsy equipment, and fruit reefers in the Southeast.
Take some pictures, and show us how much the “personality” of your layout changes depending on what region of the country you’re modelling that week.
I think why most of us (and I’m speaking for myself here) who are regular model railroaders only purchase locomotives for a specific region is we are usually trying to model a specific area and run only those loco’s for realism.
The other factor is cost. Yea, sure I’d like to own different roads, but money is always a factor. If money isn’t a factor for you, then go for it.
My modeling locale has 3 or 4 different locomotive roads that I can use and I stick with them. Even withing those specific railroads, I still haven’t even come close to completing a roster. Heck I could have 20 different types of Soo engines, at least 10 or 20 BN…the list goes on & on…
As others have said, its your hobby and your trains. I think one thing you may have noticed is that some people like to model a real railroad so the layout looks very much like certain scenes from real life, present or past. Those layouts look serious because its takes extra effort and research to put something like that together. I personally find those kinds of layouts compelling to look at.
Oh, you’re wrong Kevin…There is a list that in fact DOES determine the serious Model Railroader. Its well known in the Hobby. I’ve got an incomplete list here if you want to take a look at it…
You must use Kadee couplers. Horn Hooks are for noobies
You must use quality track, like shinohara, ME, Atlas code 83
You must have artistic skills better than that of a kindergartner. Crayons are a no no for weathering.
And most importantly you must dress and look similar to this. Its very important to carry this look with you whereever you go.
Driline: Say, from that photo, weren’t you and your twin brothers my high school teachers? you forgot the the 5th on your list: 5. Buy a big boy (or 25)
It’s no different than collecting die cast cars. At least the trains will move on their own! It does kind of make you a ‘train collector’ though, if you’re into labeling.
There are many different aspects to model railroading. You happen to major on the collecting side. Some major on operations, some on modeling, some freelance, and some on recreating a specific place and time in railroad history. Most (I believe) dabble in a little of everything. It really depends on what you’re interested in and what skills you have or what to develop. A hobby is defined as “an activity engaged in for pleasure and relaxation during spare time”. So do what you want with it to achieve that goal.
Besides, unless you’re paid for this hobby, we’re amateurs.
The thing you need to remember about forums like this is while they can be a good place to get ideas, advice, and some inspiration - they hardly represent a majority of hobbyists. Only a small percentage of us participate in on-line forums, so please don’t take the more narrow attitudes and inclinations you ‘read around here’ as gospel.
I too am a collector. My “layout” is only 4x8, and was done mainly for my grandson. I’ve been collecting since the early '60’s, mostly Union Pacific. I also have the Bachmann De Witt Clintton, John Bull, & The Prussia, because they are neat! I have The Jupiter and the 119, a Challenger, Veranda Turbine, F3’s, GP & SD everythings, and the newest AC whatevers. My grandson likes certain colors, so we have a Conrail, a SantaFe, a Fox River Valley, a Kaiser Steel, an AMT F59P, and a Caltrain! If the “dream layout” ever comes to be, the towns will be set up as time periods, from the wild west to modern. I also have a ton of MOW stuff, some of which is UP fantasy (Armor Yellow Crane by Bachmann) and a dozen+ snow plows!! It’s my railroad, and I’ll run it the way I want!![:D]
My loco roster, while meager compared to the OP’s impressive numbers, nonetheless consists of a hodge podge of locomotive types, roadnames, and even eras if you really want to split hairs. I even have one of those cool Erie Alcos pictured in the original post simply because my original Lionel train was pulled by one. I’ve justified my rather eclectic roster by saying my railroad is a low-budget operation that met its motive power needs by scouring the dead lines of other railroads and simply got the new acquisitions back to running condition and pressed them into service as-is. That way I’m perfectly justified in my own disturbed little mind to add any type of engine that suits my fancy.
That’s what’s so great about this hobby. Anyone can make it just about anything they enjoy and be accountable only to themselves.
